XboxEra's Reviews
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors is easily one of the best bullet heaven titles out there – which is no small feat, considering the amount of competition there is nowadays. Excellent visuals, lovely gameplay, with the unique mining mechanics that add a lot of depth to the runs. There’s a ton of content to grind towards, with even 300 unique achievements at launch
Frostpunk 2: Console Edition is a bold and mostly successful attempt to bring a demanding, systems-heavy experience to a wider audience. The game’s moral complexity, ideological tension, and survival mechanics are as potent as ever. Its reworked controls and UI show clear care and understanding of the platform — even if they’re not perfect.
LEGO Voyagers is a gorgeous, surprisingly emotional adventure about friendship, the joy of pure play and supporting one another. Even the smallest of us can achieve great things.
Garfield Kart 2 is a fun kart racer, in some ways better than its predecessor – but everything it does better is because it shamelessly copied another, much better game. With so many quality mascot kart racers out there, you can probably opt for something a little more remarkable.
Borderlands 4 is a masterpiece
This isn’t just a retro release—it’s a tribute. To the creativity of the 90s, to the risks developers took, and to a mascot who still puts a smile on people’s faces. It may not be flawless—but it is, without question, the purrfect way to experience Bubsy.
Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants doesn’t quite rise to the incredible heights of the original game’s story, but what’s here is more of what I wanted. More incredible locations, puzzles and maze-like tombs, dripping with atmosphere and history. What more could a budding archaeologist ask for?
Cronos: The New Dawn is excellent. Gorgeous graphics, smartly deliberate gameplay, an intriguing story, and incredible music create a new IP that is easily Bloober Team’s best.
If you’re a big fan of bullet heaven shooters, do keep an eye out for Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel, though perhaps it’s not quite an essential buy just yet.
Metal Eden can’t, nor it wants to hide its Doom Eternal inspiration in a more sci-fi theme, but it’s hard to fault a game for trying to live up to one of the best shooters ever made. Metal Eden is an adrenaline rush of a high speed shooter with excellent shooting, great traversal, lovely visuals and soundscapes, one that keeps throwing fancy new moves and brutal new weaponry to play with. It’s a short ride, ending just around 4 hours, and a couple technical gremlins and perhaps its lack of innovation may deny it a spot among the gods of the genre.
I still feel like recommending Hell Is Us, to some people at least, because it is a unique experience worth digging into. Just, remember to arm yourself with a lot of patience – and maybe a guide or two.
Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek is a kid-friendly adventure with a few weird design choices related to the puzzles and combat, but ultimately, it’s quirky and charming enough to be blasted through, whether you’re a pre-teen or an adult who has fond memories of the iconic book series by R. L. Stine. I certainly had my fun with it, and would recommend it to those seeking a horror game that’s ideal for a younger audience.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Twirlbound’s open world adventure, as its cute visuals, on point humor, infectious sympathy and solid gameplay loop kept me more than intrigued enough to keep pushing on, with the end credits rolling before the game’s relatively limited scope would start hurting. Keep an eye out for this one, as it’s a pretty fun ride.
Gears of War: Reloaded is a solid graphical update to one of Xbox's most important games. It is nearly 20 years old now, though, and some of that age is starting to show.
Just like it was at launch, Helldivers 2 is a fantastic video game, one on which you can hop on for quick mission to just complete a daily objective, or team up with your besties as you settle in for a long night of patriotism, comradery and impromptu comedy when that misplaced airstrike hits. It’s pure, unadulterated chaos, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a 10 when it comes to combat and visuals. Incredible replayability, a decent story, and a good soundtrack are let down by frustratingly imprecise platforming. Still, the other parts are so strong that I can easily recommend this game to damned near anyone.
Herdling is a special experience, full of emotion and beauty.
Dorfromantik is a brilliantly crafted single player puzzle game that just happens to look like a board game, as it’s all about placing hexagon-shaped tiles in the most optimal ways possible, creating beautiful landscapes in the process. What seems like a simple formula that may bore you quick, may keep you up way too long at night – and it certainly did so for me, so you can trust my word on that.
It’s a good-looking, if not very well-performing Unreal Engine 5 game that shows us a cool world, it populates it with an interesting lore and rich characters, and gives them just enough meat to get through a couple sessions’ worth of single player third person action adventure campaign, with a combat that is just enjoyable enough to last the ride.
Giant Squid have taken a giant leap forward with Sword of the Sea, fusing gameplay, music and art together to form what I feel is their best work yet. Sword of the Sea might be on the shorter side, but through some sublime ‘hover-swording’ and wonderful design, they’ve given us an imaginative skatepark to play in for as long as we’d like.